'59 Topps set build #13/572 Joe DeMaestri

This week has been a good start to get back into the rhythm of writing regularly again. The '59 Topps set build is going to help keep me in that rhythm.  Here's the 13th post about this set...

Card # 64:  Joe DeMaestri

This card is one of the nicest I own from the '59 Topps set.  Aside from being slightly off center and the upper left corner having a slight ding, the card is in great condition.   No pen marks and the back is really clean and bright.  Thanks again to Commishbob for including this as part of my introductory group of cards towards the set.

Joe is the type of shortstop that I remember watching in my early days of baseball.   A good glove, and any offense that he provided was a bonus.

The cartoon is great, I love how it depicts the 6 singles that Joe earned in one game as little balls off of the bat.  4 of those 6 singles were off of starter Billy Hoeft, but it wasn't enough as the A's lost to the Tigers 11-8 in 11 innings.  Those 6 singles actually raised Joe's average from .230 to .246.

Joe's bio only tells part of the story, those two seasons that he led the league in fielding were part of a 7 year run which would see him finish in the top 5 in fielding percentage for shortstops.

How'd he fare in 1959?  The '59 season would be Joe's last as a regular for the A's, and it would see him hit .244 with 6 HRs and 34 RBI.

• Joe's nickname was "Oats", given to him by a family friend because of his blond hair.
  

• Blue Jays connection--Joe was traded by the White Sox in November of 1951 to the St. Louis Browns.  One of the players going the other way was Al Widmar, who spent 10 seasons as the Blue Jays pitching coach, including the Jays first AL division championship in 1985.

• Rogers Hornsby was the manager of the St. Louis Browns the one season that Joe spent there in 1952.

• He set career highs for himself during the '57 season with 6 triples and 9 round trippers.

• Joe earned a trip to the all star game in '57, but did not appear in the game.

• Joe spent the last two seasons of his career as a Yankee, traded to the Yankees with Roger Maris.  He was one of 3 players who implored Maris to come out of the dugout for a curtain call after Maris' 61st HR in October of '61.

• He would only play in the World Series once, a part of the '60 Yankees team that lost to the Pirates in 7 games.  Joe only appeared in 4 games, going 1 for 2 in the series.  Joe was a member of the '61 Yankees that won the World Series, but he did not appear in any of the games.

Joe is currently 86 years of age and living in Novato, CA which is near San Francisco.

thanks for reading, Robert

2015 Topps?--no rush

For the first time in 3 months, I'm going to hit the monthly card show this weekend.  With this knowledge, there was no rush for me to run to the Wal-Mart or Target on the way home this week to see if there's any 2015 Topps out.   I know I'll see it this weekend.  Maybe even if I feel like it there may be one or two packs that follow me home.

In the meantime, there's a couple weeks worth of my budget to use, and there's a game plan in place.

1964 Topps hi #'s

The quest to finish off this set begins this Saturday.  All but 10 of the 86 cards I need to finish off the set are either high number or semi high numbers.  Tough to find, tough on the wallet.  If you're wondering about the lower numbers that I still need, the names Stargell, Yastrzemski, LaRussa (RC), Conigliaro (RC), a Mays/Cepeda combo card, and the AL Bombers card should tell you all you need to know about the challenge I have ahead. 

1959 Topps:

If I can scoop up another 15 to 20 of these on the cheap, I'll be happy.  I'm still early in this set build (130 so far), so I'm hoping that I can get a few that show some love to reduce the want list a little.

Trade partners

I've got a few piles going right now, so I'll be looking for some more stuff to pad those envelopes.  

Hopefully I can find some good cards on the cheap.

Blue Jays/SNI

Not as big a priority this weekend, but I'm hoping I can find something new to add to the Jays relic/auto collection.  At this point in the SNI collection, if I even find one or two cards this weekend I'll be pleased.

Something totally off the wall

I made it a point to pick up something just totally random back in November, something a little out of the ordinary.  Maybe it'll be a star card from '62 T or '68 T.  Maybe there will be a bit of hockey there that I can peek through.  Maybe I'll just grab a few things from the big 3 cities (LA, Chicago and New York) and use it as trade bait. 

I'm looking forward to getting out of the house and sifting through some boxes this weekend.

Anything to keep me from shoveling snow!

thanks for reading, Robert

More new pages--17 of them to be exact

Much like the post on Christmas day in which I showed off 12 completed pages without a bunch of commentary, I'm going to do the same here.

The one thing that is really off the wall is the page that holds card #'s 496-504.  There are two Tim Lincecum cards from the same set, 2011 Topps Heritage.   Both are within 5 serial numbers of each other, and both came from the same person (Ted from the retired Crinkly Wrappers blog).

So please enjoy the following 17 pages, representing just over 10% of the post in one showing.

1036-1044

1009-1017

1243-1251

1135-1143

1261-1269

514-522

523-531

730-738

721-729

541-549

865-873

937-945

496-504

397-405

334-342

343-351

370-378

My favorite card?   #1139--Endy Chavez committing a little robbery.   Great photo.

I hope you enjoyed the pages.   Thanks for reading, Robert

By the page: 1992 Score

The battle continues.  Trying to get the box of Blue Jays into pages will take me a while, but I did manage to put 10 pages together on the weekend.  A few player pages along with some set pages helped create some room in the big box.

Tonight, I added an 11th page to the group, putting together a page of 1992 Score.  I never bothered with this set when it came out, and to be honest, it really doesn't do anything for me when I look at it.  I was stumped for a few moments on how to group these cards into the page, until I noticed the "band" under the Jays logo. 

The page isn't perfect, but it kind of fits together.

Top row:  Orange/green band

This is the only portion of the page where the bands didn't match on all 3 cards, but all is forgiven as the 3 players represented were all key components on the '92 championship team.

Middle row: Purple band

'92 was the first season in which Derek Bell saw some decent playing time with the Jays.  Bell was moved in the off season to the Padres and went on to have a few good seasons in the NL.  Olerud and Henke were two big pieces on the '92 team, especially Henke who saved 34 games in the regular season, adding 5 more saves in the playoffs to help the team earn the title as World Champions.

Bottom row:  Light blue band

Neither Snyder or Gonzales would play for the Jays in 1992, as neither were tendered a contract in the off season by the club.  Snyder would sign in San Francisco, while Gonzales became an Angel.  Timlin in '92 would be in his 2nd year in the big leagues, going on to play 16 more with several teams. 

Nothing fantastic to show off with '92 Score, but at least it's 9 more cards out of the box.

thanks for reading, Robert

My scientific method of determining the winner of Super Bowl XLIX

Most of you know that I stopped collecting football cards a while ago.   Football cards just didn't fit into my collecting repertoire, so I decided to back off.

That doesn't mean that they don't call my name when I pass through the card aisle at the big box stores.   There are days when it is very tough to resist picking up a blaster and ripping some packs.

While the wife and I were at Wal-Mart today, I headed over to the card aisle and there they were, just waiting for me.  I spotted some of the 72 card boxes, and some of them even had "relic inside" printed on them, so I figured why not?  If there was one day of the year that I would have some fun with football cards, it has to be Super Bowl Sunday.

To make it even more fun, I decided to use the cards as a method of predicting who was going to win the big game.   In order to score the game, you've got to have rules.

1 pt for any base card--1.5 if it's a Seattle or New England player
2 pts for any insert/parallel--2.5 if it's a Seattle or New England player
3 pts for the relic

New England gets all the AFC cards
Seattle gets all the NFC cards.

Simple enough?  There's 72 cards in the box, so we'll have 4 "quarters" of 18 cards each.  Time for kickoff!!

Right off the bat we have the camo parallel (why can't I pull these in baseball, huh Topps?) of Gerald McCoy of the Bucs.   Right next to it we have the Play 60 insert featuring Dontari Poe.  Say what you want about the NFL and a lot of the guys that play there, the Play 60 initiative is easily the best idea I've seen geared towards keeping children active.   Ever. 

Look at this group!  NFC a plenty.  The only AFC card in there is Trent Richardson.

Halfway through the first quarter, the NFC leads 8-3

AFC still struggling headed towards the end of the first quarter, as the NFC dominates the second half with cards of Eli Manning and Alshon Jeffery leading the way. 

The score at the end of the first quarter--NFC 15, AFC 5

The first half of the 2nd quarter is close, but the NFC moves slightly farther ahead thanks to cards of Jason Witten and LeSean McCoy.  Antonio Brown sneaks in there for the AFC, but a 5-4 first half of the quarter extends the NFC lead to 20-9.

We have our first card for a Super Bowl participant as Jimmy Garropolo sneaks in there, but again the NFC just dominates the back half of the quarter as a couple of Saints help extend the lead.  Score this group 7-2.5 for the NFC.

Half time score, NFC 27, AFC 11.5

Start of the 3rd quarter:

Another close grouping of 9, but the Adrian Peterson card moves the NFC further ahead.

NFC 32, AFC 15.5

The AFC starts mounting a bit of a comeback at the end of the 3rd quarter.    Stevan Ridley, gets the bonus half point, and the AFC overall has 6 cards in the pack, including two parallels/inserts.  AFC 8.5 - 4.5 brings the score at the end of the 3rd quarter to:

NFC 36.5 AFC 24

Start of the 4th quarter, there's still a chance for the AFC to come back.

A slight edge for the AFC in this group of nine, with Johnny can't play football yet leading the way.  Odell Beckham and the Packers team card featuring their old school unis headline the NFC cards.

NFC 40.5  AFC 29

Now if I'm Evan Grossman or Davis Dalton, I'm stoked to have my own football card.  That is just way too awesome!  Unfortunately for the AFC, they have no affiliation that I can see, so the two inserts and the great relic card of Marqise Lee don't earn enough points to catch the NFC.  Score the last group of nine 8-5 for the AFC.

Final Score:  NFC 45.5, AFC 37

A hat tip goes out to Spankee at My Cardboard Mistress for this idea, but unlike him I couldn't last through an entire season.   Just one game is enough for me.

All the cards you see are up for trading, so if you see something you want, just let me know.

thanks for reading, and enjoy the game!   Robert

'59 Topps set build #12/572 Irv Noren

I'm sure that the blogosphere will be quiet today, it is Super Bowl Sunday after all!!  (Light up the skies New England, I have a contest to win)  So before I head out in the snow to do some shopping for the game, here's the latest in the '59 Topps set posts.

Card #59:   Irv Noren

This is the third consecutive card in the set (#57, #58 and now #59) that was graciously sent my way by Commishbob as a starter lot for this set.  I had never noticed until I scanned the card today that there is a smudge on the right hand side (makes me wonder how I missed it before).  The colors are still really nice on the card, and the corners are in good shape. 

I decided to take a look at who wore #24 for the Cardinals in 1958/59 to see if I could identify who that was in the background.   Fat chance, as 6 different players wore the number over those 2 seasons.

How'd he fare in 1959?  Not bad, once he got out of St. Louis.  Irv was traded in the middle of May to the Cubs for Chick King.

Irv batted only 8 times for the Cardinals in 1959, going 1 for 8.  With the Cubs, he fared much better, getting 50 hits for a .321 average in part time duty.

Love the cartoon!!  Irv did earn two World Series rings with the Yankees, as they defeated the crosstown rival Brooklyn in both '52 and '53.  Brooklyn did get some measure of revenge in '55 by defeating Irv and the Yanks in the fall classic.

• The 1 for 1 trade with the Cubs in '59 was something new for Irv.   The first time he was traded, in 1952, the deal involved 6 players.   The second time he was traded, in 1957, the deal involved 13 players!!
• Irv's first two seasons in the bigs were as a regular for the Senators, and he received MVP votes in both 1950 & 1951 for his contributions.
• The two pitchers he had the most career hits off of are both Hall of Famers, Early Wynn and Bob Lemon.
• See the number of games played for Hollywood in 1949?  That 180 is not a typo, as the Hollywood Stars played 187 games that year!!
• Irv finished up his career the way I would love to finish up mine.   His 1962 & 1963 stat lines show that he played/managed in AAA Hawaii.  Irv issued a $50 fine to any player who showed up too sunburned to play!
• Irv also played two seasons of professional basketball for the Chicago Gears of the NBL.  
• Irv was inducted to the Chautauqua County (NY) Hall of Fame in 1985.  Irv received the Legends Award from the Pasadena Hall of Fame in 2010. 

thanks for reading, Robert